h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Cleaning a shop window last month, I saw a pencil case for sale with this slogan. It got me thinking. "Bigger, Better, Worse" would make no sense. It's not only that /badder/ is alliterative, it also has a different meaning. What exactly that meaning is, I am not sure. I suspect a dictionary would not be much help.

/Bad/ in this sense probably means something like 'not to be messed with; dangerous when cornered'. And this sense of the word /bad/ conjugates regularly, as /badder/ and /baddest/, unlike the normal sense, which is irregular in /worse/ and /worst/.

Perhaps.

(I also note that Firefox's spell checker is perfectly happy with these words, which is interesting. Maybe they are in dictionaries after all.)

TRiG.

Don't you think that Badder is the brand name?

Could be, Bel, but that's not the impression I got. And, as I said, the Firefox spell check is perfectly happy with the word.

TRiG.

Maybe it's a typo. They left out a letter 'l' - bladder. A pencil case is like a bladder - it holds things, right?

But I think it's more likely to be bad = wicked = good. Y'know, like in that Michael Jackson song.

Yes, but what's interesting is that this meaning of the word /bad/ conjugates differently to the traditional meaning.

Bad (trad.)

bad. worse. worst.

Bad (=wicked =good)

bad. badder. baddest.

TRiG.

I don't think it would be the first time that advertising has sacrificed the rules of grammar for what sounds good.

"I suspect a dictionary would not be much help."

Well, let's have a look: http://www.onelook.com/?w=baddest&ls=a

Here's the etymology: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=+baddest&searchmode=none




ps Oxford list it too: " 9 (badder, baddest) informal, chiefly N. Amer. good; excellent."